Report links Horton to Appalachian State vacancy

Tim Horton, a former Razorbacks player who has spent the past six years as an Arkansas assistant, has reportedly been in contact with Auburn and Texas about positions on those staffs, and he is thought to still be in the running for a spot at Arkansas.

— Arkansas running backs coach Tim Horton is one of five candidates for the head coaching position at Appalachian State, according to a Monday report in the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal.

Horton, 45, has spent the last five seasons with the Razorbacks, working for three different head coaches. Newly-hired Arkansas coach Bret Bielema has yet to officially announce his staff at the school.

A former Arkansas player, Horton has been considered the Razorbacks' top recruiter in recent years. He helped keep Arkansas' 2008 in-state recruiting class - which included Tyler Wilson, Dennis Johnson, Joe Adams, Jarius Wright, Greg Childs and Chris Gragg, among others - intact during the coaching transition from Houston Nutt to Bobby Petrino, and has held the title of the program's recruiting coordinator the last four years.

Horton spent nine seasons as an assistant coach at Appalachian State in the 1990s. Jerry Moore, a former Razorbacks assistant coach, was fired as the Mountaineers' head coach earlier this month after 24 years at the school.

Arkansas has had three assistant coaches accept head coaching jobs in the last calendar year.